The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-11-30

way people do in novels which We steal
from the English authors. but this Is not
all To successfully hnnt a fox. 70 jump
cross country like an 1nruly steer Is no
ehild's play To ride all day on q very
hot and restless saddle, trying to iope
while the horse Is fro,sing. giving your
friends good view Of the country be-
tween yourself and yous., horse. sher
leaping stone walls. breaking yourcollar-
bone in four places, pulling out one eye
and leaving it hanging on plum tree. or
going home at night with your transverse
colon wrapped around the pommel Of
your saddle and your liver in an old
newspaper, requires the greatest cour-
age
Men who can do this must be cool and
self-pOssessed. They are generally men
sho are prompt to act in case of danger.
and often discover and allude il. a shrill
voice TO a fire in crowded theatre years
before anybody else knows anything
about il.
Too much stress can not be placed upon
the costume worn while fox-hunting. and
in fact that is, after all, ne life and soul
of the chase. For the ladies nothing
looks better than close-fitting Jacket.
sewed together with thread of the same
shade. ami a skirt. Neat fitting cavalry
boots and a plug bat complete the COS
tune Then, whith hue in one hand
and a cry in the other. she Is prepared 10
mount Lead the horse up 10 stone
wall or freight ear and spring lightly
into the saddle with glad cry A freight
ear is the best thing from which to mount
a horse, but it Is too unwieldIy and fre-
quently delays the chase. For this rea-
son. too, much luggage should not be
carried on a fox-hunt. Some gentlemen
carry a change of canes. neatly conceal
ed in a shawl strap, but even this nay
be dispensed with.
Fot gentlemen dark, four-botton, cut
away coat, with neat. loose fitting white
panties, will generally scare a fox into
80 that he may easily be
killed with club A short wasted plug
hat may be worn also in order to distin-
guish the hunter from the whipper-ln,
who wears base ball cap.
The fox-hound is cross of tine blood
hound, the greyhound, the bulldog and
the chump. When you step on his tail
he is said to be in full cry The foxhound
obtains from his ancestors on the blood
hound side of the house his keen scent
which enables him while in full cry cross
country to pause and hunt for chipmunks.
He also obtains from the bloodhound
branch of his family wild yearning TO
star in an Uncle Tom " company. and
watch Little Eva" meander up the hume
at 81 per week. From the greyhound he
gets his most miraculous speed, which en-
ables him to attain rate of velocity 80
great that he is unable to pause during
the excitement of the chase, frequently
running 30 far during the day that it
takes him a week 10 get back, when. of
course, all interest has died out. From
the chump the foxhound gets his high
and that mental power
which enables him to distinguish, almost
at sight the salient points Of difference
between 2-year-oId steer and 81
bin.
The only fox-hunting ! haveever done
was on board an impetuous, tOugh-bitted
horse that had emotional iu-
sanity. was dressed in aswsllow-tailed
coat, waistcoat of Scotch plaid Turkish
tOweling and a pair of close fitting breech-
es of etiquette tucked into my boot-tops.
As | was away from home at the time
and could not reach my own steed. was
Obliged to mount spirited steed, with
high, intellectual hips, one white eve and
a big red nostril that you could set a
Shanghai hen in. This horse, as soon az
the pack broke into full cry, climbed over
a fence that had wroughtiron briers on it
lit in a eornfield, stabbed his hind leg
through a sere and yellow pumpkin,
which he wore the rest Of the day. with
seven yards Of pumpkin vine streaming
out behind, and away ne dashed cross
country. | remained mounted. not be
cause ! enjoyed 1t, for did not, but be-
cause | dreaded to disnount l hated to
get of in pieces. If / can't get offa horses
back as whole | would rather adhere to
the horse | will adhere that 7 did
so.
We did not see the fox, but we saw al
most everything else. rememier among
other things, of riding through a hot
house and how I enjoyed it, A morning
scamper through a conservatory when
the syringes and jonquils and jack roses
lie euddled up together in their little beds
is a thing to remember and look back to
and pray for. To stand knee-deep in
glass and gladiolas. to smell the mashed
and mussed up mignonette and the last
fragrant sigh of the scrunched heliotrope
beneath the hoof Of your horse, while
far away the deep-mOuthed baying ofthe
hoarse hounds, hotly hugging the reeking
trail, of the anise-seed bag. calls on the
gorgeOusly eamparisoned hills 10 give
back their merry music or fork it over to
other answering hills, is joy to the
5 heart.
On, on | rode, with my uneonfined
locks streaming behind me in the Au-
tumn wind On and still on sped. the
big. bright pumpkin slipping up and
down the 2 un5rel Of my spirited horse
at every juno. On and ever on We went
shedding terror and pumpkin seeds along
our glittering track till my proud steed
ran his leg into gropher hole and fell
over one of those machines that they put
on a high-headed steer TO keep him
from jumping fences. As the horse fell
the necklace Of his hickory yoke flew up
and adjusted itself around my throat. In
an instant my steed was on his feet
again, and gayly we went forward while
the prong Of this barbarous appliance
ever and anon plowed into brand new
culvert or rooted up clover field. Every
time it ran into an orchard or a ceme-
terry it would jar my neck and knock me
silly. But | could see With Joy that il
reduced the speed of my horse. At last,
as the sun went down, reluctantly, it
seemed TO me, for he knew that he would